By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, December 23: A former chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) on Tuesday warned that the Chinese government needed to make more efforts to tackle ethnic discrimination.
Qiangba Puncog (Jampa Phuntsok), an ethnic Tibetan, Vice Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee said there have been recurring instances where people with ethnic backgrounds were discriminated against or denied access to certain service trades in recent years. He added that transport hubs and security checks at border posts and hotels had witnessed such problems.
The senior lawmaker voiced a concern over an issue that is mostly taken up by rights group and activists.
Speaking at a bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee, the 68-year old said that despite government’s action “the problem persists and has generated unwanted social impact and caused strong public reactions from ethnic regions.”
“Such practices which run counter to the regional ethnic autonomy law must be resolutely rectified,” said the deputy head of standing committee of China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament.
The US Congressional-Executive Committee on China (CECC) reported earlier this year that the conditions in ethnic minority areas have deteriorated, from increased violence in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to harsher security measures and efforts to control Tibetan Buddhism in TAR.
Phuntsok, born in 1947, is a native of Chamdo of Tibet’s Kham Province. A former mayor of Lhasa City, he became chairman of TAR in May 2003 and remained in office till 2010. He was the head of TAR during the widespread 2008 unrest in the region.
